


BrothersForever and SamsAngel47

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Cas Reads Fanfic, Charlie is awesome, M/M, Sam Writes Fanfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-24
Updated: 2015-05-24
Packaged: 2018-03-31 22:31:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3995488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam writes fanfic and picks up a fan.</p>
<p>Castiel got introduced to fanfic and found a favorite writer.</p>
<p>Charlie didn't ship it before, but she does now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	BrothersForever and SamsAngel47

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Kidnap an Angel (and other fluff)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3405482) by [posingasme](https://archiveofourown.org/users/posingasme/pseuds/posingasme). 



Sam closed the laptop with a sigh. It’s not like he really cared what most people had to say about his work… although he was a little sick of the people who replied to his clearly tagged work saying that they preferred Destiel. One time he’d had the response “Yeah, so do Dean and Cas, but that doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to dream” typed up and had only been pulled back from posting it by the sudden arrival of the angel in question making him slam his laptop closed. By the time he could get back, he’d managed to think better of it. There were few enough fans of Sastiel, no sense alienating them, or worse, making people wonder if he knew Dean and Cas for real.

It wasn’t even all that weird anymore, taking the elaborate fantasies that had haunted his dreams since Pamela had given them the name that had claimed her eyes, writing them out, and posting them for the entire world to see on the internet. Or, at least, the few hundred or so fans devoted enough to a book series to not only have read the books, but to have sought out the unpublished works on the ‘net and continue to read inspired works years after the series had ended. He’d been so nervous the first time that Dean had almost called Cas in to make sure he didn’t need to go to the hospital.

Since then, the mostly positive feedback he’d gotten had given him the confidence to keep writing, and keep posting. Most of it, he was able to take in, feel the momentary glow of pride that he’d made someone laugh or smile or cry, and move on. Even the negative feedback, he could handle well. He’d laughed so hard at the person who informed him that he had no idea what Sam was really like and that his Sam was so out of character it wasn’t even funny that he’d had to hurriedly concoct a story of watching cat videos when Dean came to check on him. He was still paying for that one, too.

Most of the feedback. There was one person who seemed to comment on every single thing he wrote. SamsAngel47 scared him a little. He posted a fic; three hours later, SamsAngel47 had a comment. And not just a “wow that was good” or a “I liked this”, but a well-thought-out critique of what rang true, what felt off, what made him stop and think about how Sam might have perceived something, what he thought Castiel might have been thinking, or thoughts about other characters’ reactions. Sometimes there were numbered lists. One time there were footnotes. It was both a head rush that someone liked his work enough to rip it apart and terrifying that it was always done so quickly. He’d tested it one time, posting at a time when most people would be asleep. Not only was the response up just as quickly as usual, there was a note at the end worrying about him because it seemed like an odd time for him to be awake.

This story was different. It had hurt to write, since he figured it was the most realistic – it started off happy enough for Sastiel, but in the end, Cas chose Dean. He figured most of his fans would blow it off, but he wasn’t sure what SamsAngel would do. And he was determined that he was not going to spend the next three hours hitting F5 every ten seconds, no matter what it took.

 

The alert on Castiel’s phone drew a smile. When he’d first come across fan fiction, he had been skeptical. He’d asked Dean about it, and been informed in no uncertain terms that people were crazy, Chuck was an asshole, and that if he valued his sanity he would stay away from the whole thing.

Sam had overheard, and later, when Dean was gone, Sam had shown him a couple of the websites where it was posted. He’d admitted to reading some of it – he scrupulously avoided certain types as either too weird (for instance, anything involving Dean having sex) or just not his thing (for instance, anything involving Sam as the Boy King of Hell) – and explained how tags worked and what certain terms meant. Castiel had very carefully not reacted when Sam explained Destiel and Wincest, but he couldn’t help himself when Sam had tried to explain Samifer. Fortunately, Sam had not only not been offended, he’d agreed that it was really weird.

He’d explored the sites on his own, and been quite pleased to find the Sastiel corner of the archives. There was one writer in particular – BrothersForever – he had come to truly respect. The writer wrote Sam so realistically that more than once, Castiel had wondered if it were a prophet. But Kevin was the active one, and he’d asked Kevin about it one time and gotten laughed at. His other characters tended to be well-done, too, although there were times Castiel felt compelled to correct his own portrayal.

Castiel sat down to read BrothersForever’s new story. As he read, as always, he made notes to put into his comments. Sam had explained that comments were a way to show the writers how much you liked their story, that you were willing to take a little time out of your day to say something nice or offer opinions or theories or feedback on things you particularly enjoyed or were confused by. For most writers, Cas stuck to the general one or two sentences, but for BrothersForever, that felt inadequate.

When he got to the end, though, Castiel stared in disbelief. He felt betrayed, although he knew it was irrational; he’d seen the tags indicating that this story was at least partly Destiel-based. It wasn’t that he’d never read Destiel, but he’d always thought BrothersForever had such good insight into him that he’d know better. That he knew where the angel’s heart truly lay.

The comment he’d intended to write was forgotten. He ran out of space in the comment box well before he’d finished explaining just how wrong it was to believe that he would ever choose Dean over Sam. A second comment allowed him to at least get closer. Close enough, at least until he’d had a chance to think this through. After all, maybe he was overreacting. Somehow, he didn’t feel like he was.

 

Four hours after posting, Sam went back to his laptop. He raised an eyebrow when he saw the length of SamsAngel47’s comment, the other joining it when he saw it continued in part 2, and just stared in lack of comprehension for a moment when he saw there were responses to it.

Of course, that was nothing compared to the surprise when he started reading. It started weird because SamsAngel47 usually started his analysis at the beginning, but the first thing he said was “You’ve always had such insight into Castiel. I know it’s a very popular belief that he loves Dean, but I thought you would know better.” From there, it got a little more like normal, as the commenter cited examples from the unpublished works of times when Cas and Dean’s relationship wasn’t perfect. Specifically, “I realized Castiel and Dean would never be able to have a proper romantic relationship when Dean ditched Cas and Sam after the Whore of Babylon. I realize that Dean was hurting terribly, that he was out of things to have faith in, and if it were just him giving up I think Castiel could have handled that. After all, he’d pretty much given up himself at that point. But he kept fighting – for Sam. Sam still believed. Sam still needed to believe. Dean betrayed Sam and Castiel that night by lying and just taking off.”

From there, though, things got very weird. Sure, Sam had been the one to open the door on the more profound bond. It was the title of the story, and how Castiel told Sam he was choosing Dean. But there should be exactly three people who knew that Cas had told Sam that he and Dean had a more profound bond, but somehow, Sam’sAngel47 not only knew but had commented on the incident. “I know what Castiel said about the more profound bond, but you must understand. Sam was lashing out at him, hitting Castiel in places he was already sensitive and defensive about, and Castiel lashed back. While true, the profound bond of guardianship has nothing to do with liking Dean better or not responding to Sam’s prayers because of his guilt at having brought Sam back wrong. He wasn’t aware exactly how Sam was wrong, not yet, but he knew Sam was. Otherwise he’d have told Sam much sooner that he’d been the one to get him back, instead of leaving it for a desperate attempt to try to convince the Winchesters he was still on their side.”

Sam grabbed his phone. “Charlie?”

“Hey Sam! What’s up?”

“I, um… Supernatural fanfic question,” Sam admitted.

Charlie laughed. “You actually read that stuff? Look, they’re just making stuff up, occasionally they’ll hit on something kind of close to the truth. Like I’ve read a lot of fics where Cas got out you of Hell. It just makes sense.”

“Yeah, uh… I get that, that was the first question I asked. Both times. But, uh… this isn’t a fic, it’s a comment on a fic, and it’s got details. Like specific quotes, in specific contexts.”

“What’s the fic?”

“’A More Profound Bond’ by BrothersForever,” Sam said, glad he’d done this over the phone instead of in person so Charlie couldn’t see the discomfort.

“You read Sastiel?” Charlie asked. “Let me guess, SamsAngel47’s response? There are so many theories about those two… everything from they’re the same person to they’re a couple who roleplays as you and Cas. Everyone’s pretty sure they know each other at the very least, just from how fast the comments are up. There’s no way he’s doing it without having read the fic in advance. My guess, it’s BrothersForever’s beta.”

“He, uh… he might be,” Sam said, catching himself just in time. “But yeah, that’s the one. You read his stuff?”

“It’s well-written, and SamsAngel isn’t wrong about how well he knows the boys and their angel,” Charlie said. “I tend to favor Destiel, and don’t hate me but Wincest is a guilty pleasure, but Sassy’s fun and BrothersForever can definitely make me believe it.”

“Just don’t confuse fanfic with real life and I won’t hate you for reading Wincest,” Sam teased. “Especially don’t confuse the ones where John gets in on it with real life, because that’s just…”

“Ew,” Charlie said. “Okay, got it up… what the hell?” Charlie said. “Did not expect to see a Destiel tag on this.”

“It’s, um… Destiel endgame,” Sam said. “SamsAngel47 was kinda pissed about that.”

“You’re kidding me,” Charlie said. “BrothersForever wrote Destiel? Just kinda skimming the fic to get a sense… I guess I could just skip straight to the comment, I’ve done that a couple times.” There was quiet on the line for a bit, and then Charlie said, “Kinda pissed? And I guess Lucifer’s kinda misguided.”

“Did you see there’s a part 2?”

“Yeah. You weren’t kidding, were you. I don’t get it, but wow, did he set off a firestorm. And there’s a lot here he shouldn’t know.” Charlie tapped a bit. “Now, someone posted a rough outline of ‘Supernatural: The Next Five Years’, going from where the books left off to you giving up the Trials and the angels getting kicked out of Heaven. But it’s a very rough outline. I figured it was you or Dean, being a smartass.”

“Wasn’t me,” Sam said.

“And it wouldn’t give SamsAngel the knowledge he has,” Charlie said. “Now, I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess it’s not you.”

“Charlie, can you imagine me calling myself SamsAngel?”

Charlie laughed at that. “And Dean hates this stuff, and I can’t imagine him reading Sastiel any more than I can imagine you reading Destiel. Just too weird to read about your brother’s sex life.”

“Yeah, I don’t mind the non-smut Destiel, but it goes anywhere near that territory and I’m out,” Sam agreed.

“So that just leaves Cas of the people who would plausibly know this stuff,” Charlie said. “Does he even know about fanfic?” Sam didn’t answer, his brain racing. Was it possible? It would explain a lot about how well the commenter knew them and how quickly posts got up… but then, that would require Castiel to have chosen the name SamsAngel47. “Sam?”

“Yeah, Cas ran across something when he was researching a monster for us, and I explained how it works and why people write it,” Sam said. “But… Castiel? Sam’s angel? WinchestersAngel, I could see, but specifically me?”

“Hey, if it’s him, he’s obviously a shipper,” Charlie pointed out. “It could be. But if he’s SamsAngel47, who’s BrothersForever?”

“Cas doesn’t have to sleep and if anyone’s brain can process that fast, it’s Cas,” Sam said, starting to seriously wonder about it. “But… I mean… that is one thorough, detailed takedown of Destiel, and Cas…”

“You… might wanna talk to him? Ask him about this?” Charlie said, but there was skepticism. “We might be wrong, it might be someone else, but I don’t know who, unless you’ve got a stalker with a ‘ship and some sort of magic or visions or something. Kevin…?”

“I asked him, after the second one. He’s not BrothersForever or SamsAngel and he has almost as bad an opinion of fanfic as Dean.”

“Speaking of Dean, our secret. Okay? Unless I find out something about who these guys are. Want me to do my hacker thing?”

Sam had not thought of that. If Charlie did, she’d figure out quickly his own secret. “Let me talk to Cas first. If he’s not SamsAngel, then yeah. Because if it’s a stalker we need to know.”

“Okay! Call me when you’ve talked to him, I’m really curious now.”

 

Sam waited until Dean had gone to town on a grocery run. “Cas? Can you… I, um, I have a question for you. Kind of an awkward one. And really complicated.” The rustle of wings stopped him from making a bigger fool of himself. “Hey, Cas.”

“Hello, Sam. What do you need?”

Sam turned his laptop to Cas, who tilted his head and looked at the screen. His face went very carefully blank when he saw what it was open to. “BrothersForever is a good writer. I like his work. What’s your question?”

“You read it?” Sam asked.

“Yes? I don’t understand, Sam. I can see where it might be awkward since it’s about us, but I don’t see where the question is complicated.” Castiel scrolled through the story, looking curiously at the response to the comments.

“That… wasn’t the question,” Sam said, ducking his head to hide his pleased reaction to Cas liking his work behind his hair. “There’s this guy who always has these really well-thought-out responses to it, in fact I don’t really consider the story complete until I’ve read the reaction from SamsAngel47.”

“Oh?” Once again, Castiel was blank, but Sam knew the difference between Castiel not reacting and Castiel hiding a reaction behind a mask. This was the latter.

Sam shrugged. “On this story, though… the unpublished works end with Sam jumping into Hell. Me jumping. You know what I mean. None of the stuff from after that ever made it anywhere except in writers’ imaginations. But this guy… he knows stuff. I know it’s not me and I’m fairly certain Dean wouldn’t touch this with a ten-foot pole, and… you’re the only other one who should know some of these things.”

“I see,” Castiel said. “I should probably have considered that before posting. But there’s too much response for me to edit those things out without calling yet more attention to them. I apologize, Sam, I should have taken a bit more time to consider before posting.”

“So it is you,” Sam said, surprised not just at Cas being SamsAngel but how easily he’d admitted it.

“Yes.” Castiel pulled up a chair. “I’m sure you have questions.”

Sam laughed. Oh, he had questions all right. “Why SamsAngel47?”

“I would think that would be obvious, given that you’ve read my comments,” Castiel said, not quite looking at Sam. “The 47 was just a random number because SamsAngel was already taken.”

Sam was speechless for a minute. Of all the answers he’d considered when he’d asked the same question of Charlie, this was the one he’d dismissed almost immediately as impossible. “You… seriously?”

Castiel stared at his hands. “I wouldn’t joke about something like this,” he finally said. “Sam, I can’t not love you, any more than I can not see Dean as my commander. I hope that you knowing doesn’t mean things have to change between us. I’ve never asked you for anything you haven’t freely offered, and I won’t.”

“So… why’d you get so upset about this last story being Destiel? You’ve read Destiel, I’ve seen your comments there, so I know it’s not that you completely object to the whole idea.”

That got Cas to look up. “I thought you didn’t read Destiel. Too weird.”

“As long as they stay away from smut, it’s not too bad. General rule is if it’s something I wouldn’t get mad at you and Dean for doing in front of me for real, I’m okay to read about it.” Sam motioned to the computer. “Of course, now I know that I don’t have to worry about seeing things I don’t wanna see at all. Even before I knew it was you, you had me convinced that you and Dean were never gonna be anything.”

Castiel nodded and looked back down. “BrothersForever seems to know us so well. Most writers, it’s clear they’re writing about fictional characters, that even if they were told we were real, they wouldn’t quite believe it. So whatever they wish to believe about us, it’s not us. If that makes any sense. I felt a little betrayed that BrothersForever would make such a big mistake, since while his scenarios are fictional, his portrayals of us ring so true to me. Usually.”

“Okay, um… confession time,” Sam said. “His scenarios aren’t entirely fictional. I mean obviously they’re not things that actually happened, but they’re all based on real fantasies I’ve had, wishes I’ve made. Writing them out, putting them online… it’s kind of therapeutic, lets me feel better about not having them come true.”

Castiel continued staring at the ground, until his head came up, eyes wide with shock. “You? You’re BrothersForever?”

“Yeah. There’s a reason my work rings true. This latest story… usually, I stick with the good dreams. This one, I went into the bad ones, the fears. I was really worried about your reaction, actually, I didn’t know what you’d do but I suspected you’d be mad at me. Or confirm things. Which would be a lot worse.”

“Worse?”

“Nobody supports Sastiel the way you do,” Sam said, realizing when it was out just how weird that sounded. “And nobody knows us the way you do. So if even you said that Cas choosing… you choosing… oh, you know what I mean. That my story was the way things would end, then…”

“One person supports Sastiel the way I do,” Castiel said. “You.”

Sam broke out into a huge grin. “Yeah, okay, fair enough. And, uh, truer than you seem to think.”

“Truer than I thought before I knew you were BrothersForever,” Castiel corrected. “But if you’re writing Sastiel based on your good dreams… then…”

“If you wanna be my angel, then help me figure out how we’re going to explain how we realized things to Dean, because I really don’t want him knowing the truth,” Sam said. “Or get over here and kiss me, that works too.”

Castiel chose the second option.

**Author's Note:**

> I keep telling myself I am not allowed to open Word documents at 2 am because it leads to silliness.
> 
> I keep breaking the rule. This is especially true after binge-reading lots of fanfic. This was inspired by posingasme's short story about Cas secretly reading Sam's fanfic, and if you haven't read their work, GO DO THAT, it's awesome.
> 
> Please note: the only person I am intentionally mocking is myself.
> 
> I love comments!


End file.
